DANCE BOOKS.

Introductory guides are generally inclined to be on the light side in terms of content. Ballet 101: A Complete Guide to Learning and Loving the Ballet is not; it equally serves the beginner and the connoisseur. Author Robert Greskovic possesses an eye of laser like precision for absorbing choreographic detail as well as understanding the subtext of meaning in the steps. These qualities, coupled with a highly detailed but eminently lucid writing style, give a palpable sense of what transpires onstage.

Part One lays out the history of ballet's European traditions which are rooted in many different countries, and with myriad cross-influences. The author deftly weaves them together, giving both the "big picture" and an appreciation of specific achievements.

Part Two looks at the art of the dancer. Talent, always essential, does not suffice without three basic components: careful and assiduous training, the right physique and physiological strengths, and the psychological well-being to withstand the demands and stresses of a performing career. Throughout his career as a dance critic, Greskovic has given much attention to the matters of technique and the reader benefits from this specialized knowledge.

Part Three examines in depth fourteen nineteenth- and twentieth-century seminal works, all currently in repertory somewhere in the world: Swan Lake; The Nutcracker; The Sleeping Beauty; Giselle; La Sylphide; Les Sylphides; La Bayadere; Apollo; Diaghilev's Ballets Russes triple bill of Le Spectre de la Rose, L'Apresmidi d'un Faune, and Les Noces; La Fille Mal Gardee; Romeo and Juliet (MacMillan); and Push Comes to Shove.

Greskovic consistently draws the reader's attention to specific details and shades of meaning, as a guide in how better to discern the choreographer's intentions; in effect, to "read between the lines" of the choreographic text. He makes the eloquent point that "ballet has spiritual and metaphysical elements, not merely physical ones" (page 232). All this is laid out and explained in the context of a commercially available videotape of the ballet under discussion.

I cherish the author's passion for his subject, which is particularly evident in his descriptions of the ballets. They convey the spirit of the works with an exciting immediacy. That the volume is also laced with wit and humor doesn't hurt. Greskovic's many, very amusing turns of phrase make the points he wants to bring home easier to understand and remember.

The work has three valuable appendices: Glossary of Ballet Terms and Phrases, Videography, and Selected Bibliography. [New York: Hyperion. 1998. xx + 634 pp. ISBN: 0-7868-8155-0. Paper, $16.95]

Not since Lillian Moore's work have I encountered historical writing in the dance field that is such a good read. One feels the author's own excitement for the subject in Dance Encounters: Leland Windreich Writing on Dance, even though he is very under- stated. This is a book of articles that unfurl like stories, not like dry academic text.

I read the piece on Aleko at a gulp the first time and then read it through again to savor it. Here is an example of the author's fine descriptive powers: "The ballet had the effect of happening all too fast, and the Chagall paintings seemed almost carnivorous in their power.

Spotlights on the first and last backdrops vividly accentuated the figures depicted as charging into the sky and gave the moons the effect of having been painted on stained glass."

The book is really an autobiography of Windreich's life in dance, which started with movie musicals in the 1930s. His exposure to ballet was not love at first sight. "The decor was decidedly tacky compared to the lush Hollywood movies of the big silver screen, except for Massine's Rouge et Noir." Ballet also introduced him to the worlds of art and music. He pursued his interest on the printed page as well and had soon read his way through all the ballet books in the public library of his native San Francisco. Tickets in the highest reaches of the city's War Memorial Opera House were an affordable fifty-five cents. When the desire to see every performance outran his purse, he became an usher.

I love the article on Agnes de Mille. Seeing Rodeo made Windreich one of her early admirers. As a teenager he approached her at the stage door and she encouraged him to write. They continued to correspond and meet up until the last years of her life.

Settling in Canada in 1961, he became intrigued with the variety and extent of dance activity there, and began publishing his thoughts. For this volume he has "selected primarily those studies of dance dealing with Canadian phenomena, particularly those originating in British Columbia. My objective was to ensure that episodes in Canadian dance history were preserved in print. The balance of the pieces reflect the issues and events which have contributed to an obsession with dance that has occupied my life for over half a century."

He is careful with facts and is best when up close and personal. Ian Gibson, Erik Bruhn, Robert Lindgren, and Duncan Noble as well as Betty Oliphant, Nana Gollner, Jeane Orr, Anna Istomina (nee Audree Thomas), and Alexandra Denisova (nee Patricia Denise Meyers) each receive respectful and measured due.

This is a selection of dance writings that lends itself to being read and savored time and again. Canada is fortunate indeed to have inherited this perceptive and eloquent historian. [Toronto: Dance Collection Danse Press/es. 1999. 230 pp. Illus. Index. ISBN: 0-929003-30-6. Paper, $35.00 (Canada) or $25.95 (U.S.)]

Leslie Getz is editor of Attitudes & Arabesques, a monthly guide to dance periodicals from the Getz Dance Library.